Twenty public school teachers are being trained in the latest scientific techniques under a program made possible by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

The teachers are spending seven Fridays inside laboratories at the UH Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM). The lab sessions are scheduled on days when the teachers are furloughed from public school classrooms, with additional courses available on-line.

Spearheaded by JABSOM's Center for Cardiovascular Research (CCR), the program strengthens skills of teachers, while offering them insight to help them recruit students into possible biomedical science careers.

“The 20 teachers selected for the program are from high schools across the state, from Farrington to Lahainaluna,” said Dr. Rachel Boulay, CCR Education Director. “They are veteran teachers dedicated to improving their knowledge of science and enriching the learning experiences of their students.”

The teachers have blogged about the experience. “The exposure to ‘real science’ as it is performed in the lab is of value for the humble, sometimes isolated, high school teacher,” wrote Radford High School’s Mitchell Kimura.

The $95,170 stimulus award has provided a stipend for the teachers, along with classroom materials for the lab sessions. Teachers from Farrington, Kailua, Baldwin, Mililani, Kahuku, Radford, Aiea, Roosevelt, Nanakuli, Kaimuki, McKinley and Lahainaluna High Schools are enrolled in the program.